Characters

Think about it. The youngest son, who's ruthless, if only because they know their not supposed be in the mafia, (Luck/Michael). The middle son, physically large and not very bright but likable, (Berga/Fredo). The quiet boss who is sharp as a knife, (Keith/Vito), and the bloodthirsty hot-headed one (Claire/Sonny).
Eve is Connie, and Connie's douchebag husband is Dallas.

She has the same gold colored eyes as Huey and Chane, and her hair, color aside, is VERY similar. She also lacks a last name.

Wouldn't that mean Rachel is an immortal, or at least half immortal? And if she's an immortal, her wounds should heal themselves instantly, yet she injures her leg on the Flying Pussyfoot, and we see her on crutches when she's in the Daily Days office, a scene which takes place sometime after the train incident. If she was related to Huey, or a homunculus, that wound would have healed by then.

The Japanese tourist Firo talked to in the Frame Story of The Rolling Bootlegs is Ryogho Narita with some personal details changed in the publication

Upon returning to Japan, he figured he could write a book on it to make some quick cash. Sometime later, the first volume of Baccano! is published. Firo finds out and is not only amused by it all, but offers to give him more of the story for a cut of the profits. The rest is history.

Claire Stanfield is faking his solipsism

He seems to care about certain other people like the Gandors and Chane, which isn't consistent with a genuine belief that everyone else is a figment of his imagination. His whole speech about being the only thing in the universe was just a calculated effort to unnerve Ladd.

If there's only one thing fandoms prove, it's that it's possible to care about fictional characters while stilling knowing that they are fictional. Instead of the Corleones and Sydney Bristow, Claire just prefers Those Lovable Mob Brothers and Sexy MuteKnife Nut.

To have the man answer for himself:

Claire: I don't see anything wrong with feeling grateful to a friend, even if he's a figment of my imagination.

Ladd's promise to kill Lua is rooted in insecurity from his past.

It's possible that due to the murder of his former fiancee, Ladd is afraid that if he doesn't kill Lua himself, someone else will and he doesn't want to go through that again. His constant reminder to her that he's going to be the one to kill her is as much a reassurance to himself as it is to her.

Isaac and Miria are actually fae.

The two of them clearly have no real understanding of human behavior, as evidenced in the haberdashery scene. They hold onto a weird Orange And Blue Morality in which crippling a family's finances is a good deed that will make up for the evil deed of stealing chocolate bars. They also fail to understand thresholds, thinking that no one will be able to cross into the museum without a door.

Chane isn't Huey's daughter, she's his homunculus.

Pretty simple: she's ridiculously adept at fighting, something Ennis also was, she doesn't seem to have a mother, and most importantly, he's able to affect her to the point of taking away her voice. At no other point in the series do we see immortals being able to affect anyone like that except with Szilard and Ennis. I'm American, so I haven't read the books at all, so I don't know if she ever ages. I assume she does, since otherwise this point would be more obvious, but it could be simply that Huey wasn't as adept at creating his homunculus as Szilard was.

Chane does age along with Claire, so she isn't an immortal (or at least a perfect one); her abnormal combat abilities is not a valid reason to consider her inhuman since many killers and assassins in the series have Charles Atlas Super Power in their veins: Ladd, Graham and Claire are all ridiculously powerful while being just human, especially the latter as he is the strongest character in the whole series. Most of all, spoilers are scattered through this article to confirm why Chane was born, and who might be her mother, and even Chane herself has kids of her own as the time goes. I say it's completely Jossed the idea of her not being human in any way.

I know I'm not the only one to come up with this idea, but hear me out; Many might ask why Fermet would rape him when his "experiments" involved "testing the limits of their immortality". While most would cite the obvious reason, I imagine that Fermet's excuse, at least, would be that he wanted to see if Czeslaw would be so traumatized that he would try to take his own life, and see if he'd come back from that. Czes did, and after that Fermet may have threatened to do it again if he ever disobeyed him]]. That's why Czes didn't try to run away or eat him again until the day that he finally couldn't take it. It also gives another reason as to why he hates being touched.

The Heiwajimas of Durarara!! are descended from Huey Laforet, possibly through Chane and Claire.

Huey's descendents have an established tendency to look just like him. Except in eye color, Kasuka Heiwajima looks... a lot like Huey, and almost exactly like Chane and Claire's great-grandson Charon Walken◊, a fact pointed out in-universe. This ancestry also helps to explain Shizuo's Super Strength.

Claire believes the world revolves around him, he'll never die, etc. He basically thinks he's a god. All well and good, until you consider the fact he must then feel responsible for everything that happens. Including the death of his parents. Regardless of how they actually died, that's a lot for a kid.

Rachel and Graham Specter are siblings.

I got to thinking this when I saw this image◊. Isn't there a similarity, both in their hair colours and hair style? Besides, we don't know Rachel's last name either, or anything about Graham's father...

That would make Rachel the older sister who Graham had a crush on. However, in Another Junk Railroad, Graham also mentions that his sister once dropped him from a two-story window in a fit of rage, which would be very out of character for Rachel.

Bobby's Gang will become immortal.

Probably not for a few years, but since they've joined the Martillo Family, it is more and more likely.

Incredibly violent, apparently superhuman Ace that commands a presence canonically compared to the series' local Eldritch Abomination?note "Dallas himself had been various states of unconscious or dead through the duration of Ronnie's visit and so hadn't noticed, but those who had seen both Claire and Ronnie would swiftly realize that both men triggered an almost instinctual desire to run away in those who faced them." No way in Hell he's completely human. The red hair/pale skin combo (MC1R) has its highest concentration in Celtic nations, Celtic mythology is real in the Baccano! universe, and going by Charon, the superhuman athleticism seems to be in part genetic. Sure, Cu Chulainn killed his only son before he came of age, but who's to say he hasn't fathered a bastard daughter in his years of sleeping with just about every damn woman in Ireland? And Claire does seem to fancy himself as a sort of Folk Hero...

Claire: When you’re fighting demons in those fairy tales, you’ll need the hero in fairy tales! In other words, me.

Plot

Huey is the owner of or somehow affiliated with Nebula.

Possibly, his first mentor and fellow Immortal, Rene Paharmadeus Brinvilliers, in the 1934 events is a head researcher for the recently (at the time) built Lab: Nebula Sky Laboratories, financed by Senator Beriam himself and with the main subject of research being the Homunculus and Immortals. Taking into consideration that Huey is on the run after the Alice in Chains novel, maybe this might trigger Nebula Sky's growth and eventual shortening of its name to Nebula.

Isaac and Miria are at least semi-responisible for everything that happens in the series from the 1930s onwards.

You know how in the opening credits there's a Joker card with them on it? Well, that refers to more then their status as the comic relief. The term 'joker in the pack' refers to "someone or something that could change a situation in a way that you do not expect", which is exactly what they keep on doing, whether it's accidentially making the mobsters immortal, kick starting Ennis' character development, or just indirectly effecting events by being in the right place at the right time, eg them getting run over delayed Ennis and Szilard's arrival at the meeting, which had a knock on effect which led to Ennis meeting Firo and failing to find the man she was looking for before Dallas and co, nicked off with the bottles, and we all know where that led. Basically a butterfly flaps its wings and causes a hurricane, Isaac and Miria do something random and awesomeness happens.

Although the main character of the events surrounding November of 1931 changes depending on which story is being told, the main character of the Baccano! anime is Carol...

...Because the anime is a story about stories, and how a young girl learns something interesting about the nature of meta-discussion.

So, the recent question on everyone's mind is how Fermet can apparently return from being devoured twice. Well let's go back and take a look at Children of the Bottle, which deals quite a bit in the fact that it's possible to create and incorporate people into a Hive Mind. Said Hive Mind also serves as a plot element in the Alice in Jails arc, where Huey makes use of it, meaning it's likely to serve as a recurring thing.

One of the people capable of making that Hive Mind? Szilard Quates. One of the people Szilard Quates devoured? Fermet.

Who wants to bet Szilard got the idea from him?

Now this brings up a new question - namely, how could Firo and Czeslaw not know this when they have the memories of the person in question. This isn't as contradictory as it might seem at first. It's shown that Firo has to actively bring up and search for the memories he's acquired. More importantly, it's shown that, when Firo is prompted to access Lebreax's (aka Fermet's) memories, his mind is immediately repulsed by the idea and shuts down any attempts to do so. Czeslaw's situation would probably be no different, as Fermet's memories are probably the last thing he'd want to go searching through. Such a reaction means that it's entirely possible that they would be unaware of this very critical information despite having access to it. After all, would you want to search through the memories of a man that vile?

Adding to this theory, when Firo recalls Lebreau's memories in 2002, one of the phrases that pops up in his mind before he is stopped is "One yet many".

Fermet was never eaten at all

A massive source of trauma for the characters (and fans) is Fermet's apparent ability to survive two instances of being consumed. Both Czes (directly) and Firo (by eating Szilard who ate someone else who supposedly ate Fermet) have Fermet's memories, which should be impossible.

But there are two ways for an immortal to acquire another's memories and experience— through consuming them, or through the knowledge being voluntarily transferred. As Maiza demonstrates with his brother, Immortals can push memories across through touch even if the recipient isn't wild on the idea. Combine this with the fact that Fermet is a top-notch Sadistic Manipulator, and it seems entirely possible that he could feign enough terror to make the memories seem to end with him being eaten. It's also unlikely anyone wanted to look too closely.

This lets him fake his own death in a way other Immortals (and very importantly, Szilard, who might actually have eaten him) will believe. Plus he gets to torment Czes in a heap of entirely new ways— by inflicting his own memories and emotions on him via memory transfer, by coming back later to shatter the illusion of safety, and by deliberately planting the idea that Czes might have eaten someone else entirely. "If this is the case... who was the 'me' that you devoured before?" After all, it's no fun to play with toys that are already broken past repair.

In the light novels, Czes says more than once that Fermet attacked him with the intention of consuming him. He believes he was able to consume Fermet instead in the ensuing scuffle, but between reach, strength, and initiative, it doesn't seem unlikely Fermet might have gotten his hand in place first.

If true, this comes with the bonus Fridge Horror that Czes actually could have destroyed Fermet once and for all at the end of the 2002 arc. Fermet gave him a very real chance, possibly the only real opportunity anyone's had yet. But as our ubervillain correctly guessed, Czes' slowly-recovering morality (and his sickened refusal to have Fermet in his head again) got in the way—leaving Fermet free to keep on tormenting.

Fermet is responsible for Szilard's turn to crazy

This is pretty much spoilers all the way down, so read at your own risk.

Consider the following:

In Whitesmile, Fermet had Gretto in his care for an extended period of time. Once the boy was reunited with Maiza, Fermet steered the conversation towards getting Gretto on the Advena Avis.

In this time, Gretto somehow became injured, even though he was an accomplice in the arson of his manor rather than a victim.

He was also taken to Fermet's alchemy workshop before he was sent to the Third Library.

In the same book, Szilard is visited by someone dressed as the Mask Maker while musing on his "pipe dream" of creating homunculi (as well as writing off the Grand Panacea as complete bullshit). Since Szilard was in on Lucrezia and Huey's plan from the beginning, this is very unlikely to be Huey. Fermet's comments on how easy it'd be to pose as the Mask Maker himself (or have Niki do it), however, are very telling.

Neither Szilard nor Gretto were originally intended to be Passengers aboard the Advena Avis - they were last minute additions.

Szilard put very little interest in tracking down and devouring Maiza despite his knowledge of the Grand Panacea. This actually makes more sense than it first might seem, as Szilard's interest in the Panacea was secondary to his interest in creating the perfect homunculi.

In Alice in Jails: Prison Episode Huey "compliments" Victor's ingenuity in coming up with the "mind control via Ghost Memory" idea by comparing him to a playwright - Fermet's primary motif, which Huey is quite familiar with. He then later asks Firo about the possibilities of his Ghost Memory influencing his actual character, suggesting that he took at least some of the idea seriously.

The memories Firo has of Lebreau are much fuzzier and incomplete than that of his other Ghost Memories, even ones that Szilard would have acquired before his (e.g. Gretto) - which suggests that they might not be memories of a complete person, if genuine memories at all.

Firo brings up these memories by specifically focusing on Gretto's memories.

Firo's attempt to look into Lebreau's memories was interrupted by blaring mental alarms suggesting that looking into them would lead Seariously Bad Shit to ensue. However, this isn't a mental warning he gets when looking into Szilard's memories, even though Szilard's mental landscape probably doesn't differ all that much.

Szilard's turn from grumpy old man to grumpy but gleefully homicidal old man was very sudden, and his internal monologues in Whitesmile have much less of a Mad Scientist air to them.

The emotional high Szilard got in snatching away others' hard work (as described by Firo) sounds more than a little like the joy Fermet takes in screwing people over.

As Fermet was a regular associate of Dalton's, he would have been aware of the rules of immortality before summoning the demon.

Fermet was completely unsurprised by what happened on the Advena Avis.

It's a general Baccano! rule that, if something bad happens, Fermet is at least partially responsible.

Putting it all together, it looks like Fermet might have tempted Szilard into devouring Gretto (who he had ample opportunity to tamper with), likely with the promise of precious knowledge about homunculi creation. Something in Gretto's memories, however, completely screwed with Szilard's psyche and turned him into the sadistic ass we all know and hate.

And that something is currently sitting around in Firo's head. Pray for him, ladies and gents.

Given recent reveals about Melvi, not sure if it puts a wrench into this theory or actually enhances it.

Michael Bay is Nice Holystone’s grandson.

Or grand-nephew, depending on how long Nice plans on remaining a virgin. Where do you think Michael Bay inherited his love of explosions?

Miria is Monica Campanella

And Isaac is an angel.
Not only do they strongly resemble each other but it's stated multiple times that no one saw the body, it's highly likely she got amnesia. Furthermore, Isaac is her guardian, an angel guiding her on a path to reunite with Huey, granting her immortality to do so. It's been shown that Isaac is smarter than he looks and when placed in Alcatraz is completely immune to the atmosphere, perhaps he is a similar being to Ronnie, omnipotent but his goal is to bring happiness to those around him and Miria/Monica is his long time project. Isaac agreed to go and investigate Huey at Alcatraz, possibly because he was trying to figure him out and get away for Miria and Huey to meet.

Setting

The series takes place in an alternate universe, perhaps one where France won the Seven-Years War

There are an awful lot of weird names in the series, but in particular, a lot of them are vaguely-French sounding (i.e. Isaac Dian) and there's also the odd thing that Huey is imprisoned in Canada seemingly under orders of American government officials. So, my conclusion is that in this universe, French Canada took over the United States. And for some reason, Alchemy works.

Newfoundland didn't join confederation (IE become part of Canada) until the early fifties, until then it was a separate Dominion under the British Empire. Besides, he could be under a kind of joint arrest between the Empire and the US, or a sort of Guantanimo Bay (technically in Cuba) setup.

Not French but French-speaking Belgian troper can certify that no, "Isaac Dian" doesn't sound French at all, especially not the way it's pronounced in the anime. And neither do any of the names in Baccano!, asides from Laforet (which has no incidence to this theory since Huey is much older than that).

The world really DOES revolve around Claire Stanfield

After all, we already know that Baccano is just a fictional story. Maybe there's some kind of self-referential thing going on.

The world will end in 2012 because that's the year Claire finally kicks the bucket.

Specifically, the world is a video game, and Claire is the player character.

While he knows none of the other characters are really real, he’s still taking a basically “good karma” route. Thus, he responds well to friendly characters and those invoking Video Game Caring Potential (particularly the “family” and “love interest” NPCs), yet easily responds with the traditionalplayerresponse to unsympathetic /antagonist characters.

This is also why he’s an ordinary human who can still effortlessly take on hordes of mooks and ostensibly more powerful bosses. On top of the usual player character advantages, he’s either good at the game, or simply reloading when he screws up (or both). This is why, despite his ostensible mortality, he’s never worried that he might die- if Claire dies, he can simply reload from last save and do it right.

The anime exists in the future of the world of the books.

Sometime after the events of Durarara!!, a documentary series is made about the Daily Days' most significant reports, and Isaac and Miria as themselves are invited to do an actors' commentary. The director loved their goofy little foreshadowingcomments over the Next Episode previews, and left them in. To sum up the series' connection to the fictional "reality", it's a release of a series about a report on the events that took place in the books, which in turn don't exist within their own continuity.

When you take into account the not neccessarily evil demons (sorry, "Devils", as is the common parlance of both series) and the perversions of science and scripture (Devil Summoning/Alchemy)

Claire Stanfield will die on July 7th, 2007

Actually, "die" isn't the proper term here; rather, he'll decide that he's tired of being Claire Stanfield and decide that he wants to be Haruhi.

Claire Stanfield IS Haruhi, who has become aware of his/her powers

Haruhi eventually learned the truth about her self and decided to make the world more interesting. Her first action was to create aliens( the demon) espers (people like Ladd and Graham) and time travelers (the immortals, via The Slow Path). She also decided to genderbend herself, because why the heck not? Its mentioned that Claire is adopted, and since he's so willing to throw away the name 'Claire' its probably not the first time he changed his name. And all those stunds he does? He's more badass than anyone else in the series. In short, he wasn't kidding when he said 'the world is mine'.

Okay, Marlo's a monster, Claire isn't, but they have a name and a lot else in common. Marlo is separated from previous kingpins due to his lack of remorse or mercy. What's more, he is completely obsessed with himself and his own reputation, he has utterly no conception of any other life but what he's doing now, and he shows impressive fighting skills against multiple armed opponents. Marlo is Claire distilled through generations of Baltimore drug culture. Maybe Claire had a fling with a black girl in Baltimore in the '20s, Lamarck Was Right, and the rest is history.

Baccano! takes place in the same universe as Highlander.

The alchemist was trying to distilling immortal blood to make the immortality potion.

Baccano! takes place in the same universe as Portal.

And Chell is an Immortal. Getting shot at by turrets, she loses her weight in blood throughout both games only to be healthy and unhurt a moment later. The only logical explanation for her insane Healing Factor is that she's an Immortal!

And Huey was involved with Aperture Science at one point. Just throwing it out there.

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